Improvement in the manufacture of sheet-iron



W..ROGERS. Improvement in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel.

Patented Jan. 23,1872.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM ROGERS, OF APOLLO, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND THOMAS J.

PATENT OFFICE.

BURGHFIELD, OF ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET-IRON.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 122,912, dated January 23, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM ROGERS, of Apollo, in the county of Armstrong and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in the Process for Manufacturing Sheet-Iron, known in the trade as Russia iron and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The nature of my invention consists in the process used for forming, upon the surface of sheet-iron, an oxide which, upon being worked into the body of the sheet, gives an oxidized polished surface of the nature and character of that of the Russian sheet-iron.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe more fully my process for manufactun in g sheet-iron.

I11 the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification, Figure l is a ver tical section of a heating-furnace which I use in my process of manufacturing sheet-iron. Fig. 2 is a vertical and transverse section of an annealing-furnace which I use in the said process.

A in Fig. 1 represents the fire-chamber of the heating-furnace; B, its ash-pit; O, the bridge-wall. D are flues. e is an iron bottom plate, which is about two inches thick, and is provided with a large number of apertures distributed equally over the plate, and are used for the purpose of allowing the heat to pass up through the plate. The dotted lines frepresent the stack of the furnace, the base of which rests on the crown h of the furnace and is placed near the front side of it and above the charging-mouth of it. The stack should .be provided with a damper, as indicated at i.

the oven by means of an endless apron or other equivalent means.

Having thus described the furnaces I propose using in my process for manufacturing sheet-iron, I will now proceed to describe another part of my said process.

I take a good article of wrought-iron, and, by means of suitable rolls, roll it into sheets of a gauge twenty-two to twenty-four. I then coat or otherwise cover the surface of a sheet with particles of charcoal of about the size of a grain of wheat, taking care to have these particles evenly spread over the entire sheet, completely covering the surface with them. I then lay another sheet of iron upon this first sheet, and in like manner cover its upper surface with like particles of charcoal, and thus I continue to place sheet upon sheet, covering the upper surface of each until I form a pack of about forty sheets. I then clamp the edges in the usual manner for forming packs of sheetiron. I then place the pack in the heating-furnace, represented in Fig. 1, with the under sheet of the pack resting upon the bottom plate 6. I then place around the edges of the pack wood which has been thoroughly soaked and saturated with water, forming a protecting wall (as indicated at lin Fig. 1) of wood. I then close up the mouth of the furnace so as to prevent the admission of air into it. Ithen start a tire in the fire-chamber A, using wood as the fuel. After the fire has become completely ignited I lower the damper r, so as to retain the heat, smoke, and gases of the fire in the furnace. After the iron has been subjected to the action of the heat, smoke, and gases of the furnace until each sheet in the pack has become red, which will require about two hours, I then remove the pack from the furnace and subject it to the action of a steam-hammer, or other concussive or impinging force, for the purpose of working the oxide which has been formed on the surfaces of the sheets into the body of each sheet. I then unpack the pack and repack it in the same manner as I formed the first pack, taking care to bring the center sheets of the pack to the outside of the pack and the outside sheets to the inside, thus interchanging consecutively the center sheets. The pack is again subjected to heat in the heating-furnace in the same manner as in the first pack. It is then removed from the furnace and again subjected to a hammering or other force, as in the first instance. This pack ing, heating, and hammering process is repeated four or five times, which will, as a general rule, sufficiently work into the iron the oxide formed on the surfaces of the sheets at each heating of the pack, and give it the necessary finish and polish. The sheets are then trimmed by the shearing process, and passed through the annealing-oven, one sheet after the other. The passing of the sheets through the length of the oven will be sufficient to anneal and properly color them. The sheets are now finished and are in a merchantable condition.

I hai e found that submitting sheet-iron to the process hereinbefore' described, its body becomes tough and pliable, and that its sur faces are provided with an oxidized coating which is also tough and pliable and not liable to crack or scale off, and that the sheets are provided with a smooth and polished surface which is not liable to rustv I have found by experiments that iron scales and other metallic oxides may be combined with the charcoal in covering the surfaces of the sheets, in forming the pack for the furnace, and that such combination answers as a good substitute for the charcoal alone. But it will be found that the use of charcoal without combining it with other matter will be sufficient to produce the desired result when it is used in the manner hereinbefore described.

I have also found that the edges of the pack may be protected by the use of clay or other earthy and mineral matter moistened with water so as to make it adhesive, and they answer as a substitute, in many respects, for the wood protection hereinbefore described. But my experience is that wood soaked and thoroughly saturated in water is the best protection for the edges of the pack.

I wish it clearly understood that I am aware that charcoal has been placed between the sheets of a pack of sheet-iron prior to subject ing it to a hammering or rolling process. I am also aware that sheet-iron, after having its surfaces cleaned or scoured so as to remove the scales or oxide from it, has been heated so as to form a delicate surface of oxide on the sheet-iron after such cleaning, and then subjected to a rolling or hammering process. But I do not claim these latter processes as forming any part of my invention or process.

Having thus described the nature of my improvement, what I claim as of my invention 1. The hereinbefore'described method and process of treating and manipulating iron in sheets for the purpose of furnishing it with an oxidized, colored, and polished surface, substantially as herein set forth 2. Surrounding the outer edges of the pack hereinbefore described with wood previously saturated with Water, substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

3. The use of clay or other earthy or mineral matter for the purpose of protecting the outer edges of the pack while subjecting it to the action of heat, substantially as herein described, and for the purpose set forth.

4. Repacking the pack by interchanging the position of the sheets with relation to each other in the pack, substantially in the manner herein described, and for the purpose set forth.

5. Annealing and coloring iron treated as hereinbefore described by passing it through a heated chamber, in themanner set forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand this 10th day of November, A. D. 1871.

Witnesses: WILLIAM ROGERS.

A. O. J OHNSTON, JAMES J. J onNs'roN. 

